UNH student revived after going into cardiac arrest

Tuesday

Jan 29, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Andrea Bulfinchabulfinch@fosters.com

DURHAM — A University of New Hampshire student's life was saved Saturday evening when trained staff at the Hamel Rec Center and emergency response personnel were able to revive him after he went into cardiac arrest.

According to Assistant Fire Chief Jason Cleary, The Durham Fire Department, UNH Police and McGregor Memorial EMS were dispatched to the facility just after 4 p.m. on Friday when it was reported that a man had collapsed while running on a treadmill there. The student was reported as being unconscious.

Cleary said units were on scene within two minutes, but Hamel Rec Center staff and bystanders had already begun performing CPR, hooked the student up to an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) available at the center and had shocked the man once with the device.

Cleary said the patient's pulse came back but was then lost. At that point, advanced life support procedures were initiated and rescue personnel were able to recover his pulse again before he was transported by McGregor to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover.

The students has not been released at this time per the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and officials were awaiting word of his condition from the hospital as of Monday evening.

Cleary said it was beneficial to the student that there was an AED readily available and that there were people around who saw him collapse and who knew what to do.